Targeting non-profits and public schools.

target... everything.

schools are a tough gig. you'll find that everyone seems to 'know' someone that can get it cheaper, and that's when you say, 'oh, okay, well then that's who you should go with then.' it's a slightly different ballgame between the pee-wee leagues and the high schools, who aren't quite so prone to kickbacks and 'favours.' i could go on and on about schools, but suffice to say that they'll eventually find you sooner if not later and searching for their business is real tough as, like i said, the pee-wee leagues seem to be run mostly by jokers looking to put a couple of bucks in their own pocket, or high schools who tend to already have people they know and trust and sometimes get their trophies/awards and/or some sports equipment from. not always, of course, and sometimes they get quotes from shops (and often already know who they're going with anyway, but they follow through with appearances).

oh, and don't fall for 'sponsorships.' it's a flat-out waste of money. the trick to that is you say, 'what i do is take off the sponsorship cost off the bill.' they'll try to give you some meaningless, 'but, we'll put your name on this and that!' even if they do, i have *never* gotten so much as a mention from a customer they saw our name, let alone any business from it.

being juiced in is a good way of putting it. really, people will find you and ask for a quote. you'll quickly find that those 'representing' a school or team are the ones you lose the most of your time with. they sometimes act as if you're the first person they've ever talked to, then turn around and say they can get it cheaper the minute you give them a quote, lol. you'll get fed up with this stripe of customer fast, and don't worry about losing a sale, you didn't stand a chance anyway unless you did the job for nothing.

if you're doing work-for-hire, any and all markets are open. you'll get a lot of small business owners wanting work shirts, churches, and (ugh) people with a 'killer' design that only wants a few shirts for whatever dumb thing they do. because we knew the guy, we did several for his 'paranormal society.' anyone else and we would have turned them away from having them screen printed. you are likely to get some people wanting quotes for their crappy band, too.

your market is anyone that wears shirts and will buy your minimum order (sometimes that minimum is as low as ten, more often 12, sometimes 24 with other shops. i think the highest minimum i've seen is 36, which to me is pretty absurd).

find someone you can outsource embroidery to.

there are other things you can screen print other than shirts, so bear that in mind. i've been meaning to screen print some of my pants, just haven't gotten around to it quite yet. stuff like political signage you may have to search out, but those are some options if you're interested.

as far as pricing, if you are the lowest guy in town you're likely to do a lot more work to make the same profit as you would have had you priced your jobs for what they're worth. in other words, i'd rather do one shirt for ten bucks than two shirts for five. you can't compete with the snaky, sleazy low-ballers so don't even try ~ they'll beat you every time.